Making a Statement: When Press Secretaries Make the News

Abstract

Serving as the chief spokesperson for the President of the United States and the Administration, the White House press secretary’s words are read and listened to by many. Although there is research on the role of the White House press secretary and the exchanges that take place during the daily White House press briefing, the conditions under which the press secretary is cited in the news have not been closely examined. For this study, more than 500 news articles from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post that mentioned the press secretary during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama Administrations were examined. The findings indicate that the partisan leanings of media organizations play a role in determining certain circumstances in which the press secretary is quoted.